The Night Shift
by camp lazlo1232
Summary: Mancini middle school has always been a dump. but past the school, behind the playing fields and through the trees. there lies a field, desolate and grim. but why does this field scare everybody, even Billy. why does this field scare...me. Review please!
1. Chapter 1: Deciet

**Welcome to my second Gaobam story. This one is a little different from my old one. Its still a third person Mandy story. But instead of being a romance tragedy, This one is more of a thriller. Also I hope to capture both the comedy of the show, but also a real sense of fear.**

**So enjoy…and review…please**

**1. Deceit**

Mandy joined the masses of students as they shuffled miserably down the corridor towards the auditorium. The grey, scuffed cement floor was covered in the dirt and other mysterious objects left behind from the shoes of the students, brought in by their lunch time activities.

A generally miserable vibe echoed down the corridors, the same miserable feeling they felt everyday they attended the dreary second rate school. Nothing seemed to work properly here. The lockers didn't open, the windows, dirty or smashed, the play equipment, nothing but a dangerous tangle of broken equipment. Yes it seemed like "Henry Mancini" Middle school had been forsaken. Left behind in the eyes of the education department as nothing more then a school for rat bags and drop outs.

But Mandy had learned to ignore this factor. All she knew was she was there and there was almost no way out of it. Though she hated it, she knew she needed to be here for her education. "Just three years" she would keep saying to herself whenever the school let her down. This was the only reason she hadn't gone crazy.

The mass of students she walked with finally reached the doors into the auditorium, slowing down to file through the thin doors. Mandy was squished as she squeezed through the doors. She popped out the other end into the large, dark, dropping room that was the auditorium. Mandy slowly walked down the stairs that split the seating down the middle, until she saw the familiar waving boy, Billy. She shuffled past the seated students and stopped at the empty seat next to Billy

'Saved this one for you Mandy' Billy said in his normal, cheerful voice. Mandy didn't say anything. She just turned and sat down on the seat.

'Ah!' she shouted as she felt a sharp pain. She shot up and looked down at the seat. A pointy spring stuck out of the center of the seat like a shiny strand of curly hair. She glared at Billy.

'Thanks a lot Billy' she said as she rubbed her backside in pain. She pulled the spring out of the seat and threw it of towards the stage, through the darkness of the room. Mandy could swear she heard someone cry out as the spring had disappeared, but she didn't really care. She sat down and gazed across the auditorium. The students sat in their seats unsteadily, waiting and wondering why they had been called here. Paper planes and spit balls filled the air and the uncaring teachers simply stood on the stage, taking amongst themselves. One of them smoking carelessly.

"If this place burned down it would be doing the neighborhood a favor" Mandy thought to herself as she watched the teacher breath out a jet of smoke.

'Mandy' Billy's voice toned, bringing Mandy back to reality. She looked over to see Billy pulling the fluff out of the arm of his seat. He had collected quite a pile of the yellowish foam that sat in a heap on his lap and the floor at his feet.

'What?' Mandy asked as she looked back to the front.

'Why are we here?' Billy asked. Mandy was taken back by the complexity of his sudden question, though she didn't allow it to show on her face. She sighed as she answered his question.

'Because of the inconvenient locations of our houses. This is the only middle school in the whole south side and the stupid department of education is too dense to see that because of the over-crowdedness of the school, the educational level drops accordingly, thus producing a school that consistently produces below average grades therefore lowering their funding. Its an unbreakable cycle, once it starts going down hill it just gets worse from there'. Mandy felt quite angry by the time she finished her sentence. She looked back to Billy to see that he had a puzzled look on his face.

'Uh' he stuttered 'I meant why do you think where here in the auditorium'

'Ah…' Mandy said slowly, feeling like an absolute idiot 'I-I don't know Billy'.

'Eh-hem' a loud voice toned over the speakers Grabbing Mandy's attention. She looked back to the stage to see the principle standing in the center of the stage, a microphone in hand. 'I know your probably wondering why we called this assembly today'.

'Eat me!' a student cried from the audience, followed by a small roar of laughter.

Mandy really didn't care why this assembly had been called. All she knew was that she had been called out of the most boring biology class of her life. If they were calling people out of class to kill them she would have gone.

'The reason is not the normal "someone has set fire to a portion of the school and seen as we have no emergency evacuation procedure, we just come here because it's the most structurally sound area of the school". Not this time at least' Mandy chuckled to herself, thinking about the past 'no this time I have brought you all here for a good reason' the principle paused for a second and the students started to mutter softly to themselves.

'Henry Mancini Middle school has been granted a huge lump sum to improve one section of the school' the whole auditorium seemed to gasp simultaneously. Mandy was actually in shock as the principle continued. 'One of our students, who shall remain nameless for safety reasons'

'Nerd!' a voice interrupted. The principle glared at the student for a second, then continued

'Anyway, one of our students scored a mark on the standardized test so high the department of education felt a responsibility to improve the learning environment'.

"Who could have single handedly wowed the whole education department" Mandy thought to herself

*

_The Department of education_

'Hey Bill'

'Yeah Greg'

'Listen to this answer to question one by a student called…Billy'

'Go ahead'

'Well the question asks you to relate ancient world conflicts to the political status of today's democracy'

'Yes, I have read the question Greg'

'Yeah yeah I know. But this Billy kid, for his answer he wrote…well he uh, answered'

'Spit it out man'

'Well…he drew a puppy'

'…a puppy'

'Yeah…'

'…this kid…this kid is a Genius!'

'I Know!!!'

'He is obviously referring to the innocence and youth of our democracy, saying that there is no relation to ancient conflicts at all'

'Only a genius could have described all that with one simple picture!'

*

_Henry Mancini Middle School_

Mandy was actually exited at this news, and so was the rest of the school. Finally they didn't have to attend a second rate school. They no longer had to have six people per science textbook. No longer would a student have to get a tetanus shot from just getting a splinter from the worn desks. They would be a normal school now; Mandy would be a normal student for once.

'But!' the principle shouted over the roar of the students. Suddenly Mandy's enthusiasm dropped and she felt the shrill reality set in. the reality that it was too good to be true. He cleared his throat as he began to speak once more.

'Our lump sum payment has gone all towards a single project. A new building in the school'. Mandy felt a need to lean in closer, as the principle fiddled around with the projector remote.

'And this is what our new project will be!' he said excitedly, pointing the remote up past Mandy, to the projector.

There was a quick flicker of light, a fizzling sound and then a loud pop. Mandy looked back at the projector. A small column of smoke was leaking out the back.

"Predictable" Mandy though

'…umm, could someone give it a bit of a…' the principle made a punching gesture. Mandy heard a shrill cry from a student, and then a school bag flew out of the audience and hit the projector with force. The projector started ticking over and finally started projecting a beam of light over the top of the students and onto the stage. Above the principle, a fuzzy image spread across the wall.

An image of a massive two story building, luscious in its exterior spilt forth from the projector. As the image changed Mandy saw how beautiful the inside of the building would be. It was like one of the houses you see on the shows like grand designs and better homes and gardens. A true work of modern architecture.

'This new facility is complete with the best of modern architecture and design. No corners were cut in the making of this new, mega teachers staff room. and-'

'What!' the whole auditorium seemed to scream.

'didn't I mention this' the principle added softly 'all of our funding has gone to improve the most important part of our school…the teachers staff room'

The whole auditorium was in an up roar. Mandy however simply leaded back into her chair. Though she had wanted an improvement to be made to the school, one that would benefit the students and their education, she new that it was way too good to be true.

'That's not all' the principle said loudly, quelling the noise 'due to the cost of our new staff room, or staff building if you will…anyway because we spent so much money on the building itself, we could only hire the very least in laborers'. Mandy narrowed her eyes towards the principle. She had always prided herself on being just that little bit quicker then the other students. And she had a sneaking suspicion that she knew where this was heading.

'So…we've decided…to postpone most of your classes during the construction in order for you, the students to help the tradesmen in building the new teachers building'

There was a large empty pause, a deafening silence that filled the room as all eyes were drawn onto the principle.

'I'm serious' he said 'in fact were going round to the site right now'.

The pause was not interrupted. It was so silent that Mandy could hear her own breath and Billy's unfit, wheezy breath as well. Mandy wasn't sure what to expect would happen next. Whether there would be a school wide riot, or if the students would see it as just another excuse to not turn up to class. An excuse that wouldn't get them in trouble.

'N…no' a voice finally said in a normal voice across the room. It was soft, but because it was so quiet Mandy could hear him as if he were sitting right next to her.

'Well actually you don't have a choice in the matter' the Principle said as he pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket 'the from you thought was about class selections…was actually a manual labor consent form'.

The room seemed to take a breath in and Mandy's eyed widened. "Touché Mr. Principle" Mandy thought as she rubbed her chin.

'We're still not doing it' the mysterious voice said from the now slightly restless crowed. The principle sighed loudly and pinched the skin between his eyes.

'Failure to comply with set request will result in immediate expulsion' he stated. The room started to mumble restlessly. "He's certainly thought this one out" Mandy thought

'So lets all get up and head on down to the back of the school yard' he said in a much more upbeat way then before. Yet still there was no reply. He sighed and brought his voice down 'look, your getting time of class for this, so just….head to the construction site or I'll expel you like that' he clicked his fingers.

In one seemingly single motion every student rose out of their seats and started filing out the doors. Mandy shuffled along with Billy right next to her. She popped back out of the auditorium and headed down the corridor.

'Well' she said to Billy with a sigh 'what a way to start the day'

'But' Billy looked puzzled 'but its lunch time Mandy'. Mandy glared at him

'It's a figure of speech you dumb idiot'

'Oh!' Billy exclaimed loudly 'is that like my Mr. Hero figurine where if you pull the string he speaks'. Mandy stared at him for a second, and then sighed. There was no point in trying to argue with him. Besides

She had more important problems to deal with.

**Well there's the first chapter. There isn't any thriller stuff yet…but it certainly sets up the scene don't you think.**

**Oh and if I get lazy and don't update. Review kick my butt.**


	2. Chapter 2: Fields

**Hooray for chapter two. This is where the creepy begins. This is where thing begin to unravel. This is where (random comes in and Slaps Camplazlo1232 in the face)…okay okay, on with the story…geese, you try to do a little commentary and all you (random comes in and Slaps Camplazlo1232 in the face)**

**2. Fields **

Mandy watched from the grassy hill as the students waited for their building orders. With Billy by her side she did her best to drone out all of the others, chatting away, some eating their prepared lunch.

She looked down the hill her and all the other students sat upon, passed the green patch that the kids played soccer on, through the one or two trees and through to the field of tall grass.

If the school had done one thing that was worth achievement it was their playing fields around the back. The lush green grass stood to just the right level, not short enough to see patches of brown but not tall enough to itch your legs. A warm spring breeze blew through the wonderful oak trees and the branches blew gracefully. Mandy had found much solace in sitting alone and sketching the trees, and this time was no exception. She reached into her bag and pulled out her sketch book. She had discovered a new love of drawing. The thought of taking a moment in time, and immortalizing it onto paper…It kept her sane. And there was nothing to sketch in the whole school that was better then the playing grounds.

It was obvious that the grounds keeper really loved his Job.

But passed the playing fields and through a thin line of trees, the sight for the new building lay in waiting. There had always been something foreboding about the field behind the trees. The grass grew long and yellow and soft white flowers grew out the top of plants that just poked through the tall grass. Some might say that it didn't sound so bad. But anyone who saw it would tell you otherwise. Just glancing upon it you knew that you didn't belong there.

Mandy Started to chew on the already chewed on pencil as she thought back. She remembered a time when she was sitting in pretty much the same spot, sketching Billy and the other boys playing a game of soccer when Billy suddenly kicked the ball straight into the field. There has always been a rule of the game. "If you kick it out, you get it out" and Billy wasn't the type to kick tradition. But something about the field stopped him in his tracks. He couldn't take a single step into the tall grass.

It wasn't hat Billy was scared, seen as Billy feared about two or three…stupid things. It was more that he simply refused to enter the field.

As if he knew something about it.

Suddenly Mandy shook her head vigorously as she realized she had been staring intently at an empty field.

"It's just a Stupid field" Mandy thought loudly. She paused for a second, and then quickly shoved her sketch book into her bag and flung the bag around her shoulders. She then shot up to her feet and started marching down the hill towards the yellow field.

'Mandy?' Billy said as he got up and instinctively followed her

"It's just a Stupid, un-mowed, dry field…why is it so different!" She yelled in the privacy of her own thoughts. Billy was almost jogging just to keep up with her fast pace and Mandy was sure that most of the students were watching her by the time she reached the trees.

Finally she came to the line where the tall yellow grass seemed to just…start. She stopped dead in her tracks, unable to walk forward, her whole body was telling her not to walk. The pull was overpowering though

'Why!' she yelled aloud. And with that she jammed her eyes shut and started to run forward.

She felt the tall grass dancing around her running legs, trying to catch her still. She smelt the strong smell of pollen fill her nose to the point of almost sneezing. She felt her mind drifting in the sea of black while her legs just kept on running.

Finally she stopped still.

She welled up all of her courage, and shot her eyes open

Instantly Mandy noticed the one thing that stood out the most as she stood in the middle of a swaying field of tall grass and white flowers.

…it was deathly quiet…

Not even the sound of a breeze seemed to make any noise. Mandy looked back to see Billy just standing at the edge of the tall grass, just watching her.

Suddenly she sneezed and a visible spray of pollen shot out around her. She grumbled as she wiped her itchy nose. She had always had troubles with hay fever, but it only came up during storms or anything that-

"Wait" Mandy's mind suddenly snapped into action. She looked around to justify her sudden realization. And she was right

'Th-there are no bees around' Mandy said slowly to herself. Now that she thought about it, there was no life at all around. No birds, no insects…nothing…the place was dead

'Why are you here' Mandy shot away from the direction of the voice, her heart making a giant thump in her chest.

Her sudden shock was quickly extinguished as she realized it was Billy.

'Billy don't do that you nearly gave me a-wait' Mandy realized in mid sentence 'you're in the field'

'What field?' Billy said obliviously

'This field idiot, the field you never come in' Billy Just looked at her like she was crazy

'Are you feeling okay Mandy?' Billy questioned. Mandy took a deep breath in, then choked out some pollen

'I'm-I'm Fine Billy. Just a little…' She left her sentence hanging as she let her mind wander. She shook her head to regain her composure and looked at Billy with the same stern face she always held

'C'mon pee brain, lets go back to the hill with the others, they probably think I'm nuts for running in here, and your crazy for following me' She started walking back towards the school

'What does crazy taste like?' Billy asked casually

'Eh?' Mandy replied

'Well, you get to taste like nuts…why cant I be nuts then you can be crazy'

Mandy just ignored him. To be honest all she could think about was getting out of that field.

Because the reason she left her sentence hanging was because she didn't want to finish it. She didn't know why, but when she was in that field

…She felt lost…

**oooOOOoooo, I wonder what all this means…wait, no I don't, I already know.**

**Well I eagerly await some reviews if you got any…please**

**(random comes in and Slaps Camplazlo1232 in the face)**

**AHH!!!, what the fudge!!!**

**(random gives him the finger)**


	3. Chapter 3: Excavation

**Chapter three, How exiting. I hope you all have kept up with what's been happening. If not, then go back and read the two previous chapters...and review them. That stuff is my drug **

**3. Excavation **

Mandy drove her shovel deep into the soil once more. The ground had become soft, grainy dirt in the large square pit that would soon be the basement of the new building. The students had slowly abandoned their previous reservations of the mysterious field. Slowly the field lost its presence as it became just another construction site.

A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead and dropped onto her hand. This made her angry.

"How Dare they make me sweat" she thought to herself as she leaned on her shovel.

'Hey Mandy' Billy suddenly said. Mandy used his annoying voice to give her the strength to drive the shovel into the dirt once more

'Mandy' Billy repeated, but once again Mandy refused to reply, only acknowledging him with a muffled grunt.

'Mandy Mandy Mandy Mandy'

'What!' Mandy finally cracked. She looked away from the ground to face to boy. He had a simple, confused look on his face that made Mandy somewhat calmer, though she would never admit it to him or anyone else.

'The ground got hard' he whimpered. Mandy took a deep sigh.

'You've probably hit clay' she said simply 'just keep going'

Suddenly there was a loud crash of thunder that echoed around the school and beyond. Mandy, along with the rest of the school looked cautiously up to the sky.

Dark ominous clouds had filled the sky that seemed pristine not two hours ago

"A storm is coming" Mandy thought "lets hope we can get out of here before it hits"

'Mandy' Billy questioned 'is clay made of gold?'

'Billy, clay and gold are two…' Mandy suddenly realized what Billy had said. She dropped her shovel and ran over to his side, looking down at Billy's hole. And sure enough, a small golden strip peaked out from under some dirt.

"That's two perfect and straight to be natural" Mandy thought. She reached down and brushed some of the dirt of the gold and it slowly revealed that it was attached to a larger object. She grabbed it and pulled it out of the earth and instantly she knew what it was.

It was a music box…but what was it doing out here

The box was no bigger then a ring box and it fit perfectly in her hand. The gold (which she deduced was only paint) was an elaborate pattern that ran all over the dark wooden box.

Mandy slowly opened it…and to her shock…it began to play.

The small box chimed a hauntingly simple tune. The tune seemed to bring back Mandy's feelings about the field. There was nothing elaborate inside the box, just the turning mechanism that made the music. Mandy couldn't stand to listen to its twisted song anymore; it had made her feel uncomfortable and nervous. So she slammed it shut with a loud wooden click. She let out the air that was trapped in her lungs as a single raindrop landed on the box in her hands.

Suddenly it seemed as if the sky had opened. With a loud crash of thunder the rain started flooding down. Students started to pile out of the square hole and run to the cover of the school.

But Mandy couldn't take her eyes of the music box. It seemed to be overwhelming her.

'What do you make of this Billy?' Mandy asked. But when she looked up she noticed he was gone. In fact Mandy noticed she was the last one in the field. Moreover the last one still left outside.

"How long was I staring at this box" She though as she looked at the box once more, only this time it seemed to lack the level of intrigue it had earlier.

Mandy shrugged it of and began to walk up to the school. She didn't have the same problem with rain as the other students did. In fact she-

Mandy lost her train of thought as she felt something grab her ankle. Slowly she turned to look back at her ankle, and when she saw what had caught it…she froze

The arm of a skeleton was reaching out of the ground, grasping Mandy's ankle…that's when Mandy heard a voice that seemingly came from everywhere

'You tricked me!' a girl's voice yelled.

Mandy almost screamed as she kicked away from the hand until she was free. She hastily climbed out of the basement pit and sprinted towards the school, fearing to look back.

Finally, once she was at the entrance of the school, and a good distance away from the pit…she looked back. Her heart beat loudly in her chest and she was wheezing from her run, but still she slowly turned

A Flash of Lightening flooded the field with light and in that instance Mandy saw a figure standing in the field…the figure of a girl.

Mandy quickly opened the door and fled through it…leaving the whole experience outside and behind her.

**OOOooOOOo. Who knows what all of this means. and if you want to hear what the music box is playing. Follow this link ****.com/album?catno=WOM_WOM_0182**** and play track five "music box dream". The music box at the start is what inspired it. Oh and please review, I need them soooo bad**


	4. Chapter 4: Darkness

**Chapter four. Its good to see a few people slowly getting into this story. As always I love your reviews, so keep em coming**

**4. Darkness**

They day had finally ended, but the rain had not. It had done nothing more then eased up a little bit…and add to the miserable tone of the day.

Mandy's mind still rung with thoughts. The incident she had experienced just before in the pit had her testing her own sanity. Because only a few hours had passed and she had begun to wonder if she had even seen anything. At first she was sure of it…but now she wondered.

Mandy rounded the corner of the corridor and found Billy waiting for her at the entrance to the school. She popped her umbrella open and took a step out into the rain, with Billy sharing in the shelter of the black umbrella.

And with that they began their walk home as they usually would. But this time was different.

They were silent. Merely listening to the sound of rain. Mandy found this to be truly peculiar as she watched Billy staring out at the rain.

"He is usually a buzz with the day's activities, no matter how bad they were" she thought to herself.

But now that she though about it even she was quieter then normal. Usually she would voice her opinion on what was pointless and who was annoying. But she felt too…wrong to say anything.

But she couldn't stand to see Billy so quiet. There was something about that boy. He had to have his mouth open to look normal.

'What a day hey Billy?' Mandy said through the sound of rain. Billy stopped looking out to nowhere and looked at Mandy. For a second she thought she saw something in his eyes that just didn't belong. But before she could confirm it he looked back out into nothing

'y-yeah' he said unenthusiastically.

Mandy just looked at her shoes as if she had said something embarrassing.

Finally they turned into their street. They both stood on the corner, in front of Billy's house, staring across the street, looking at Mandy's house.

They stood there for what seemed like forever in an instant. The only sounds were the rain and the occasional car driving by in the water bogged street.

A crack of thunder suddenly echoed through the streets, and this seemed like a signal to Billy. He moved out from under the umbrella and started running to his house. Mandy stared at the boy as he ran through the rain to his door, not looking back once.

'Goodbye then!' Mandy yelled to him, frustrated that he just left without any warning. He stopped at his door and turned to Mandy. He then smiled back at her and waved before opening the door and disappearing into the house.

Mandy knew instantly that the smile was forced. Billy only smiled like that when he was trying to make someone happy.

She shook her head fiercely and started crossing the street to her house.

'I know too much about that boy' she sighed out loud to her self. She reached her doorstep and once she was under cover she collapsed her umbrella and placed it next to her door.

She put the key in he door and unlocked it.

The door opened with an ominous creak as it slowly swung out. Mandy had no hesitation in stepping into the quiet, dark house. Not a single light was on but there was enough light coming through the windows for her to navigate her way to the living room. She threw her bag onto the floor and collapsed onto her couch. She then grabbed the remote from underneath her and pointed it at the television, switching it on.

But rather then any news or anything, all Mandy got were a few images of what should have been playing. She slowly figured out that the TV was getting an interfered signal from the storm, and this made her understandably annoyed. She grunted as she channel surfed to see if anything would play, but every channel was either glitching or just pure static.

Finally she gave up and switched it of, throwing the remote onto the floor in anger.

The room lost the light the television was displacing and suddenly the house seemed darker then before.

A flash of lightening illuminated the room just for a second. It was then quickly followed by a crash of thunder that was so loud Mandy thought it shook the house. Mandy listened as the sound of the thunder faded into the background and the sound of the rain against the window took its place.

Sitting on the couch as Mandy was, the light coming out of the window behind her left an ominous shadow on the floor in front of her.

That's when she realized for the first time…

It was the first time she had been alone since…the incident in the pit.

"If there was any incident" Mandy argued in her head

"No!" she yelled in her mind "I know what I saw"

She took a glance across the dark room. From her seat she could see, on the left, the open archway to the kitchen…almost pitch black. And to her right, The entrance way and staircase. Each way looked dark and creepy.

Finally she decided she didn't like sitting in the dark. She jumped of the couch and crossed the room to the light switch, her shadow dancing around her feet.

She flicked the switch, but nothing happened. She flicked it a few more times just to make sure, and then finally she just sighed deeply.

But suddenly her senses were on edge as she heard a sound, like metal on metal. Her eyes shot across the room to the source of the sound…the kitchen

She stared wide eyed for some time, hoping the sound was just her imagination.

A shadow suddenly ran across the floor in front of the kitchen archway and Mandy almost jumped back.

She looked around the room for something she could use as a weapon until finally her gaze settled upon two empty glasses and an empty bottle of wine her parents had finished before they went on their trip overseas. She took the bottle of the coffee table and grasped it by the neck.

Slowly she walked across the room towards the kitchen, bathed in darkness.

Another crack of lightening bellowed through the street, but it did not distract Mandy.

Slowly she entered the archway and peered into the kitchen.

It was very dark and Mandy could only just make out the basic shapes that were given some light by the small window. Slowly she entered the room. One hand holding the bottle ready, and the other thrown in front of her to stop her from running into anything.

The room seemed empty as Mandy panned it with her eyes.

But suddenly she froze…

…a shadow slowly began to rise directly in front of her, like a sheet of black rising. Mandy stood motionless as the shadow grew higher and higher before her eyes, weaving left and right until it was up to Mandy's neck.

Finally she took control of her actions and her body, her eyes taking their stern, confident position. She held the bottle tighter and swung it forth, hitting the shadow on the side with a shattering sound. She let go of the broken glass as the shock hurt her hand. The shadow collapsed to the ground.

Suddenly the lights began to flicker on…and Mandy's eyes widened.

The shadow was no longer a shadow.

'Ouch!' the skeleton yelled, grabbing his cracked skull 'what did you do that for Mon?'. Mandy breathed a sigh of relief

'Don't ever sneak up on me Grim' she ordered

'Me! You're the one who shattered a bottle on my head'

'I thought you were a-' Mandy paused as she realized what she was about to say. Slowly she realized how stupid she acted in thinking some; ghost or something was in her kitchen. She looked at her shoes and to her dismay, she started to blush

'Mandy' Grim began 'are you blushing?'

Mandy's face grew stern one again and without warning she threw a punch. Grim collapsed to the ground with a muffled screech as Mandy's fist hit the one area no guy wants to be hit in, even skeleton dudes.

'C'mon grim, I want to talk to you' Mandy ordered as she walked back into the living room.

But all grim could do was cry like a girl and huddle on the floor.

**20 minutes later**

'So that's what happened' Mandy said as she sat on the couch next to grim

'Hmm' grim pondered as he rubbed his chin and looked out at the rainy street 'I see'.

Mandy's eyebrows dropped in frustration

'So?' she finally said impatiently

'I can't think of anything Mandy' Grim explained 'there certainly isn't a portal to the underworld there, and it's not a burial ground or anything like that'.

'What about…what I saw' Mandy said in an unsure way

'What I can tell you is this Mandy. Most ghost that walk the earth, are souls that I never reaped'

Mandy began to let her mind wander back to the moment when she was in the pit. But her mind was brought back to the present by Grim's voice

'Usually these souls came to an untimely end, which is why they don't appear on my list. Most of the time I get to them, but sometimes they never even go past my desk…or scythe in this case'

'So it's possible that it was a ghost?' Mandy asked

'Yeah, it's possible' Grim paused for a moment 'do you still have the music box you found?' Mandy shook her head

'It fell out of my pocket when I ran out of the pit' she said as she reached into her jacket pocket 'I was so shocked I didn't-' but Mandy paused as she felt something touch her finger tips in her pocket. She grasped it and pulled it out in front of her

…it was the music box…

'I-I could have sworn I had lost it' she said. Slowly she opened the lid, remembering the haunted tune it played.

But this time it played nothing.

'Why isn't it working?'

'Maybe it broke while you were running' Grim suggested. Mandy looked at the box with suspicion

'Yeah' she said slowly

'Look Mandy' Grim said after a long pause 'I'll look into it, but for now I'm going to bed. I know it's early. But I've been working since the mid 18th century this morning' He yawned and stumbled of towards the stair well. But stopped at the bottom of the stairs

'Hey Mandy' he said without looking at her

She looked at his with both anticipation and suspicion

'Watch yourself okay' And with that he trundled up the stairs

Mandy sighed for the hundredth time today as she grabbed the remote and switched the TV on. It still wasn't working so she flicked it of and collapsed on the floor. She reached into her bag that still sat there from when she first came in, and she grabbed out her sketch book. She looked around the room anxiously for something that she hadn't already drawn, until finally her eyes fixed on the music box, just sitting on the couch. Slowly she reached for it and placed it on the floor in front of her and she began to sketch the small gilded box.

A million questions raged through her mind and they all led to one main question

…what does this all mean…?

**Admittedly that chapter went in a completely different way to what I imagined the original chapter went. But I think it ended up better. Hopefully you wont be waiting too long for the next chapter…I sure as hell cant wait for it… **


	5. Chapter 5: Investigations

**Sorry it took a while to get this chapter up. I've just finished college so I've been a bit busy with final exams and what not. But hopefully for a while I'll have more free time on my hands to work on this story.**

5. Investigations

For Mandy, the night just passed was slow. Her inability to sleep weighed over her as she entered the doors of Mancini middle school, ready for another day of hell. The rain still hadn't stopped, which was a peculiar sight seen as it was the middle of spring and rain usually only consisted of about an hour of heavy downpour. This slow drizzle was very out of season.

Again Billy seemed distanced and distracted. So much so that Mandy couldn't stand to be near him. His melancholy state made her angry for reasons she couldn't explain, so the first chance she got she ditched him with Irwin.

She was somewhat glad that she or any students for that matter no longer had to aid in the construction of the mega staff room. As she walked past a window she glanced through it to see that the pit had begun to take shape as a building. The basic ground work had been done and the scaffolding had begun to take form.

She walked passed the window and down the corridor towards her English class right at the end of the hallway. She was running a few minutes late to her class and not many people roamed the halls, but being on time wasn't that important to her. She noticed as she neared the room that the door was left wide open and all the students had their heads buried in the ratty textbooks the school supplied. Her eyes focused on the board and saw, written in big black writing the words "Silent Study Period". The word silent was written in big bold writing.

Mandy knew that in this school, silent study period was just code word for "teacher has a hangover, so shut up". The bigger the word silent was, the more hung-over the teacher was. And it was pretty bold this time.

Mandy stopped walking towards the room before she got too close to escape.

"I have better things to do then just sit around" she reasoned in her mind. And with that she turned away and walked quickly back down the corridor, leaving her class behind her.

It most certainly wasn't the first time she had skipped class and it sure wouldn't be the last. It wasn't like she skipped class to go smoke behind the bins with the cool kids or anything. In fact most of the time she skipped, she would go to the library to study or the playing fields to draw. This time she opted for the library.

The Library building sat just to the left of the main school building and was an odd looking structure. Its condition was somewhat better then the rest of the school, mostly because it was also a public library as well as the schools library. So its funding came from other sources.

She walked through the silent library and straight to the help desk in the center of the hexagonal shaped building. A librarian sat lazily behind the desk, filing her nails back and occasionally puffing her hair style that belonged back in the eighties.

Mandy did not hesitate to interrupt the librarian from her obviously busy schedule.

'Excuse me' she politely asked 'do you have a section of books about the school?'

The Lady stopped filing her nails and looked down at Mandy with an annoyed and slightly disgusted look plastered on her face. Finally she huffed

'Why should I know?' she said in a superior tone. Mandy's eyes shifted left to right as she contemplated the librarian's stupid question

'Uh…you're the librarian; it's your job to know'

'Well' the lady began, raising her tone slightly 'it's your job to shut up'

All Mandy could do was slap her forehead in embarrassment, Just like she would with Billy. Her eyes slowly assumed their standard, dangerous look and she glared down the lady

'look you outdated old cow' Mandy began in a firm tone 'maybe if you spent more time doing your job and less time in the eighties you would be able to think of a better comeback then…shut up'

The librarian paused and lightly touched her hair as Mandy kept her death stare on her. Finally the librarian resumed filing her nails

'Yeah' she said carelessly 'it's in the back, section five A'

Mandy slowly smiled, realizing she had won the argument

'Thank you' she said politely as she walked past the desk.

She didn't even look around as she walked. She just headed straight for section five A. she reached section five and started walking along the isles until she reached five A.

It wasn't a big section, just about two or three isles. So it didn't take her long until she stumbled on the small section of shelf dedicated to books about Henri Mancini, the founder of the school. she picked out two or three of the books and went of to find an empty quiet spot in the library to read them. She stumbled across a table on the second floor overlooking the road in front of the school. The rain still drizzled on the window with its precise rhythm, almost like a ticking clock.

Mandy sat and read for quite a while. She wasn't sure how long exactly, but she knew most of the lesson had gone by. But with all this time she hadn't learned much from the books. She leant that the school was founded by a man named Henri Mancini in nineteen eighteen. He was a classical composer and he had opened the school originally as a school for the arts. But after his death in nineteen thirty five, the school became just another government school and it lost its routes.

Mandy flicked through the pages, her eyes panning across paragraphs looking for vital information while her mind contemplated what the school would be like with a bit more of the arts in it.

Mandy stopped just before she flicked to the next page as something caught her eye, a picture in the corner of the page. It was a picture of a small amphitheater (outdoor theater). The thing Mandy found interesting about this, was that the picture of the amphitheater…was where the new school building was being built.

In the black and white picture, people were sitting on the small grassy hill that Mandy herself would sit on almost every day. And they were looking down to the stage, where people were performing some sort of drama production.

Today if you sat on that slope and looked down all you would see was a construction site.

Mandy touched her chin lightly as she realized a contradiction.

"When we were excavating we didn't find any amphitheater buried underneath the ground" She thought "I mean we did find a few bricks and what not, but nothing that big".

She looked at the caption underneath and it read "the amphitheater is often used for festivals and performances for the community and the school". Mandy focused on the way the paragraph suggested that the amphitheater was still in use. She flipped to the index and saw that the book was published in nineteen forty.

Five years after Henri Mancini's death.

"So if they didn't scrap it right after Mancini's death" Mandy thought "then why did they get rid of it?"

Mandy knew there had to be a reason for destroying what this book said was the most important part of the school.

A crack of lightening flashed through the room followed by the rumbling of thunder. This brought Mandy out of her thoughts. She looked at the time and saw that her next class started ten minutes ago. She sighed and closed the book.

She went downstairs and put the books back in their place and headed for the door. She walked past the main counter and stared down the librarian. But just as Mandy turned away the librarian began to speak.

'Hey' she almost shouted. Mandy turned to look at her with her evil eyes. The librarian puffed her hair and she had a worried look on her face. 'How can I change it?' she asked, obviously referring to her hair. Mandy just shrugged

'I'm not a stylist' she stated.

'Oh' the librarian puffed 'well how did you get your hair to look like that?'

Mandy would have grinned if she wasn't so in control of her own body

'This?' she said, gesturing at her own pointy hair. The librarian nodded. Mandy huffed out a little laugh 'this…this is natural'

And with that she turned away and walked towards her next class. She knew what she had to do next. But for now, Patience was her virtue.

**Well Mandy always has a plan doesn't she? I would just like to take this opportunity to thank the readers and thank the reviewers. You guys and gals are great and hopefully you wont have to wait too long for this next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6: Infiltration

**This one's a big one folks. Just a heads up though. I tried to write Grims accent…so don't judge me on that one. Sorry it's a bit late.**

**6. Infiltration **

Mandy threw the last of her effects into her small bag. She had collected everything she would need for tonight from around the house and placed it all in this bag with room to spare. She looked down at her watch and saw the time was 1:00am. This meant it was now time to leave. She swung the bag over her shoulder and closed the door to her room behind her.

Slowly she crept along the corridor and down the stairs, making sure not to make any sounds that would wake up Grim. She reached the bottom of the stairwell and just as she placed her hand on the door handle, a light switched on in the living room to her right. She glanced over and much to her disappointment she saw Grim sitting on the couch next to the table lamp that was lighting the room. He had a curious but also tedious face on and this made Mandy slightly impatient with him

'It's a Bit Late to be going to Billy's mon' Grim said. It was obvious he knew what Mandy was doing

'What do you care?' Mandy asked

'Your parents said dat it was my job to look after you while dey were away'. Mandy huffed

'What do they care' she stated sarcastically. Grim let out a small laugh, as if to only fill in the silence. He smiled at her

'I know you're not going to listen to me' he said 'and your going to go do whatever it is dat you got to do'

'Yep' Mandy quickly added

'So I decided there was only one thing dat I could do'.

Mandy looked at grim curiously. What did he have in mind?  
Suddenly…the doorbell rang. Mandy's eyes shot to the door.

"Its one in the morning" Mandy thought as she reached for the door "who could this be"

She slowly pulled the door open. And as soon as she saw the boy standing at the door, her eyebrows lowered and a death stare crept its way onto her face.

'Hiya Mandy' Billy said enthusiastically 'I'm all ready to go'. Mandy just glared at the boy, then quickly looked over to Grim

'I refuse' she said cutting right to the chase. Grim just shrugged

'It's my only condition'

'Don't presume you have any form of authority in this precipitous situation. Why should I listen to you?'

'If you go alone I'll just bring you back' Grim continued 'kicking and screaming if it comes to it'

Mandy gave him the death stare, and then she turned to Billy and gave him the death stare, then back to Grim. But neither of them reacted with fear. They were the only two people she knew that didn't fear her death stare.

Mandy looked over to Billy. He just stood on the doorstep, the light rain drizzling all around him and a big grin slapped across his face.

Mandy grunted and charged out the door, grabbing Billy's wrist and pulling him along as she popped her umbrella open with her free hand.

She didn't like these new circumstances, mainly because this meant she had already deviated from her plan. And this was something Mandy hated to do. But deep down under the evil looks and angry remarks, she was glad that Billy was with her for this.

They walked down the street huddled together under the shelter of the umbrella. The streets were dead quiet except for the sound of the rain and the cars off in the distance. Mandy kept a quick walking pace.

'So where are we going Mandy?' Billy finally asked. Mandy laughed to herself

'We're going to school Billy'. Billy just looked at her with a puzzled look

'But it's not time for school yet Mandy' he stated

'I know' Mandy said 'that why we're going. There are some things I need to find that I can't see during school hours'

'So its glow in the dark is it?' Billy asked. Mandy looked at him with a puzzled face

'What?' She asked

'Well if you can only see it at night that must mean its glow in the dark, right?' Mandy looked at him with both confusion and disgust. Only Billy could possibly ask such a stupid question. But it would take more time to describe the situation to him then just play along. So that's what she did

'Yes Billy' she sighed 'it is glow in the dark'.

They walked along for a while longer. The rain pattered down on the umbrella and filled the silence between them. Mandy looked over to Billy as they walked, analyzing his facial features.

He seemed to be his normal happy self. He didn't seem distanced or irritated any more. He was just his normal chirpy self

Suddenly Mandy felt stupid.

"How could he be any different then Billy" She thought "he IS Billy"

Her mind wandered across his face. Remembering times when they were together. He really had been there for her when she needed him. Heck he was here with her now. But the way she ignored him when there was something obviously wrong, made her feel guilty. And this wasn't a feeling she was used to.

Suddenly Mandy's mind snapped into reality as she realized she had been starting at Billy's face. She jolted her head back to the front just in time to see the school coming into view.

'Here we are Billy' she said to Billy 'c'mon, we're heading to the third door'

There were five doors at the front of the school. One was the guest entrance that entered into the front office. And the other four were student entrance doors that entered into different areas of the school.

The two of them crept up to the third entrance door, Mandy almost forcing Billy to creep.

The door was a rusted, unused door. Mostly because it was jammed shut by the rust and dints that various rocks had inflicted over time.

Mandy placed her bag on the floor in front of her and opened it, pulling out a large metal file. She forced it in between the double doors until it was all the way in. she then bent it just enough to move the locking mechanism. Then all she had to do was wrestle the door until it opened with a cracking sound.

'That was cool Mandy' Billy said. Mandy placed the tool back into her bag and led Billy into the school.

The corridor was dark and erringly empty. When people say it would be creepy to be at school at night, they were right.

Mandy reached into her bag again and pulled out two torches and handed one to Billy.

'Wait' Billy exclaimed as he took the torch from her hand 'why did you bring two torches?' Mandy chuckled lightly

'I'm in a creepy school at night' She began 'I've seen the horror movies where the torch goes out and then something happens. I like to be prepared'

Billy looked at her as if she had said something very stupid. Mandy found this stare to be somewhat ironic

'Uh, Mandy' Billy said slowly 'that stuff only happens in movies'

'If that's the case then give me back the torch' She sassed. Billy wrapped his arms around the torch and switched it on

'No way Man-Day!' he said

'that's what I thought' She replied confidently.

She flicked her light on and pointed it down the corridor, checking to see it was empty. Then she began to walk with Billy following closely behind, flicking his light left and right.

Mandy knew exactly where she was going, but because of the darkness everything seemed so unfamiliar. Almost as if she were in a completely different place…almost as if this wasn't the school she went to this morning.

She shrugged the thoughts of as she reached the front office and reception area. She quickly crossed the room and headed straight to the principles door. But once she reached it she realized it was locked. She cursed under her breath and looked over to see if Billy had heard her. He was looking around aimlessly, pointing his light at things and smiling. Her eyes panned over to the reception desk and she quickly ran over to it, hopping over the desk. She then began to rummage around in the filing cabinets and draws to see what she could find until she finally came across a draw filled with keys.

'C'mon…C'mon' she murmured as she rummage through the draw. Finally she pulled out a key with a label attached that read Principle Office

'Yes' she exclaimed aloud

'Did you get your glow stick back yet?' Billy asked. Mandy hopped over the desk and ran up to the door. The key slid in and turned with ease and Mandy smiled.

'Almost Billy' she said happily 'I'll be out in a second'

And with that she ducked into the principles office. It was a somewhat small room, filled only with one armchair, a couch and the Principles desk. She darted to his desk and sat down at it, turning the computer on. The desk was cluttered with various pages of paper. Some were grade sheets while others were student records. But the majority of them were complaints by the public against the school.

Mandy stopped looking at the scraps of paper as the computer beeped at her. She looked at the screen to see a password required sign. She moved the mouse over the hint icon and sighed when all she got was a jumble of phrases. The phrases read "A Collies Corner Pip", "A Encircle Spoil Pro" and "A Pencil Corpse Roil"

She leaned back in the chair.

"It's just a jumble of words" she thought "they don't make any sense". She looked at them over and over again but no matter how many times she looked she couldn't make any connections.

'Alright' she reasoned 'what do I know about the Principle'. She rubbed her chin as she remembered the man

"He's a man in his mid forty's somewhere" she thought "he always wears a suit, he sometimes teaches an English class"

That's when she noticed it. She stopped and looked at the phrases again…They all had the same letters. She smiled

"Its an Anagram" she thought. She placed her hands on her head and assumed her thinking pose. She had always been very good at mind puzzles.

Slowly she made connections and grouped appropriate letters together in her mind. Suddenly she opened her eyes.

'Is he really that vein?' she wondered. She moved her hands over the keys and typed the words "principles are cool". Suddenly the screen started to load and Mandy sighed

'Predictable' she said

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her USB. She then plugged it into the computer and started the download of the history files.

'Billy' she yelled out to the reception area 'I'm almost done are you ready to go?'

She waited for a response, but there was none.

'Billy?' she questioned once more. The compute beeped at her, signifying that the download was complete. She removed her USB and turned off the computer, darkening the room once more. She picked up her torch and switched it on. But no light came out. She shook it a few times, then sighed.

'Billy give me your torch!' she ordered as she exited the office. But when she emerged into the reception area she noticed one thing.

Billy's torch light was no-where to be seen.

"where's he gone off to?" she thought. She looked out the windows that ran across the top of the wall and all the way down the corridors. There was sufficient moon light coming through to light the building just enough.

So she walked off down the corridor towards the science department. The floor changed from torn dirty carpeting, to scuffed cement. And every footstep she took echoed vibrantly around her, filling the corridor with sound.

She turned a corner but stopped suddenly as she looked down it. Rows of lockers lined the sides with thin, barred windows above them the whole length down, beaming out a thin layer of moonlight. There were suspended lights going right along the corridor, though they weren't on. Mandy felt odd as she looked down the corridor. She didn't know why, but her gut told her something was wrong.

She started down the corridor, glancing left and right suspiciously as she walked. She had almost made it half way through the eerie corridor.

Suddenly it went pitch black.

Mandy turned to look back down the corridor. The moon light had stopped shining through. There was a buzzing sound, then the first light in the corridor turned on. She looked down to corridor at the light as it flickered on and off. Mandy felt a compulsion to walk to it.

She took only one step before it turned itself off, bathing the room in darkness again.

Then in the darkness Mandy heard two loud metallic crashes, then a light. Only this time it was the next light closer to Mandy. The two rows of lockers between the lights swung open, creaking menacingly.

Now Mandy felt the need to panic…a need to Run.

She turned and headed away from the light, slowly at first. The light switched off again and four more crashes sounded, making Mandy's heart pound in her chest. The next light in the row flicked on, only for a second or two. Then it switched back off again and more lockers pounded open.

…it was getting faster…closer.

Mandy lost her senses and started running. The lights started flicking faster, as if chasing her, ripping more lockers open as she ran.

Mandy was almost sprinting now

The lights flicked faster and the lockers smashed open like a wave with them.

It was so close now that Mandy couldn't stand to look back. The sounds of the lockers was like a cloud of hornets crashing around her.

…suddenly Mandy was under the light…

Instinctively she closed her eyes and fell to her knees, covering her head with her arms.. a powerful blast of wind gushed past her and the sound of the lockers bursting open was all around her now.

She waited until the sound was gone…wishing it would go. Slowly the lockers crash stopped and the wind disappeared.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked up

…everything was normal…

A soft moonlight shone through the windows and as Mandy stood back up to look around she noticed that none of the lockers were open.

'What's happening here?' she asked. She placed her hand over her chest to feel her heart beating like a drum. She was short of breath, and freaked.

Suddenly she remembered why she was here.

"Billy" she thought. She ran down the corridor and slid round the corner. Suddenly she saw Billy through the window in the door leading out to the playing fields.

He was looking out and down to the construction zone. Mandy took a deep breath and opened the door.

'Billy' she said slowly, closing the door behind her. The cool breeze ruffled through her hair. And that's when she noticed…the rain had stopped.

'Billy what are you doing?' she asked again. The boy stood motionless in front of her. He wouldn't even turn to look at her

'They want me to be in it' Billy said suddenly. Mandy felt disturbed by his words, as if they weren't his own. But she ignored it.

'Be in what Billy?' she asked 'you talking nonsense'

'I hope they are not trying to trick me' He continued in a soft tone. Mandy stopped trying to talk to him. she had decided that he was not Billy. Slowly she moved towards him, putting her hand out for him

'Lets go home' she said.

'I hope they give me a good part in it' And with that the boy turned around.

Mandy shot back as she saw the boys face. His eyes were just blood red orbs, and they bled all down his face. A gust of wind blew past him and drops of blood fell from his face.

Mandy hit the wall, her heart pounding in her chest.

'Billy!' she screamed.

Mandy suddenly shot up screaming, her blanked falling off her. She was breathing heavily and sweat beaded off her head. Suddenly her brain assessed where she was

…she was in her bed.

Soft daylight shone through her bedroom window and her alarm beeped annoyingly at her.

'What?' she questioned 'what happened'?

She looked at her clock to see the time was eight in the morning.

"Was it all a dream" she thought "how could that be. It seemed so real"

Suddenly she realized she had something in her hand. She brought it to her face and opened it.

It was the music box…and her USB.

'How?' she asked aloud.

For the fist time since all this started, she knew

…there was something very wrong with that school…with that field.

**Well well well. What does this all mean. I guess you'll just have to read to find out. I don't know why but at the start of that chapter, the bit with Billy and Mandy walking to the school. It came out very romantically so interpret that one however you want. **


End file.
